Chicken Soup for the Tsubasa Lover's Soul
by flo-bizet
Summary: A one shot section of family and romantic fluff since we're experiencing a heavy fog of angst lately. Chapter 5: Upon finding a yellowed haired kid in the woods, Kurogane begrudgingly takes on the role of hero. Except he was the cause of the kid's trouble
1. Fishing

**Date Written:** July 1, 2007

**Summary:** Father and daughter go fishing and unwanted chatting ensues.

**Flo:** I need fluff. Yet, all that is written lately seems to be angst. Why?!

**Yuuko:** Probably because the latest chapters are angst. Fanfiction seems to follow the path of mood that the actual story is going. So it seems that you're the weird one here!

**Flo:** … Dang. Well, people need to warm their hearts!

**Kurogane:** I want no part in this crap.

**Flo:** Too late, you're in the first chapter!

**WARNINGS!** … Uuuuuh, shonen-ai? I don't think I have any since this is just pure cuteness and fuzz. I'll probably have a bit of naughty language, but really, nothing too bad. **But probably warnings in future chapters! For, like, spoilers and stuff. **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Tsubasa Chronicles. Insert your own clever comment HERE.

**Written because of the latest angst filled chapters. We all need some love!**

**Hope you enjoy!**

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It was quiet. And not one of those quiets where you're thinking something bad is going to happen. It was a quiet where you could probably take a nap. Kurogane would have gladly done so, except for the girl sitting next to him who didn't seem to understand the concept of fishing and it's peaceful atmosphere.

She kept trying to strike up conversations, mostly about the kid, and all Kurogane would respond with was a few agreeing statements in one, maybe two words, or, more commonly, a grunt. This had been going on for about an hour and he was beginning to wonder why she wanted to go fishing with him in the first place. The mage himself had made it perfectly clear to everyone and their mothers that he thought fishing was boring and too much work (there was some garble about cutting a hole in ice), so it would make sense that the princess would listen to him since she practically believes everything he says (we're not going to go into that). Yet there she was, sitting prim and proper in the dirt with a fishing pole in her grasp.

Admittedly, she was better company than the mage for this activity. Even if he did like fishing, Kurogane wouldn't let him anywhere near a pointy object. Besides, he wouldn't be able to sit still for five minutes. The princess was just barely able to do that. The kid would be okay, but he seemed too jumpy sometimes. Like a scared rabbit or something. And he wasn't about to think about what fishing with the manjuu would be like. No, the princess was fine company. He had nothing against her and she was always willing to try something new. That was probably why she wanted to come. From what he understood of deserts, there weren't many fish swimming around.

"Kurogane-san!" she suddenly squealed. "I think I got something!"

"Reel it in," Kurogane said, not nearly as enthusiastic as her.

With great concentration, she began to wind up the fishing wire, a small grunt occasionally sounding. Kurogane had to raise an eyebrow at her show. He didn't think reeling in a fish took that much effort, but then again, she wasn't exactly built like him. It was also taking a long time. He was thinking that he might have to step in eventually, until he saw that her hook was actually just caught on a nearby log. Sighing, he grabbed the line and gave it a quick jerk, causing the hook to fall back into the water.

"Reel it in and cast again," he said to the blushing princess. She quickly followed his instructions and then plopped back down onto the bank.

"Fishing is harder than I thought," she said. She looked as though she was trying to cover her blush with her hair. Kurogane could admit that it was kind of cute. To no one else but himself, of course.

"It's not hard," he said. "You just need a lot of patience. You'll catch something sooner or later."

Another thing about the girl was that she was easy to cheer up and quick to get over things. Most things. Little things. Like fishing. Unlike a certain mage he knew (and no, we're not going into that one, either). Kurogane hadn't even been trying to cheer her up, but there she went, giving him a big smile before puffing up her cheeks and focusing all of her mind power on getting a fish.

That lasted for about five minutes. Better than the mage and manjuu, but still not as good as the kid. "Um, Kurogane-san?" she said, just barely above a whisper.

Should I answer? he thought. Ignoring her would either result in her getting the picture or hurt for life. Kurogane concluded that the chances of the latter happening were too great and he didn't want to have to explain to anybody why she was moping. "Yeah?" he said.

"Well, I was just wondering if it would be okay for me to ask you something… That is, if you don't want me to it's perfectly fine it's not like it's really important and I wouldn't want to bother you any more and-"

"What have I told you about your little habit of rambling?"

"Don't?"

"Good. Now get on with it."

"Right, I'm sorry." Taking a deep breath she said in record speed, "How do you know when you're in love?"

Surprisingly, Kurogane wasn't expecting that. So much so that he ended up slipping down the bank they were sitting on and falling into the water, making all the five fish swimming around there go off somewhere else. The princess freaked out and actually asked if he needed help getting out of the foot deep part of the river. Kurogane grumbled what resembled a, "no" and slowly got out and sat back down beside the princess, looking straight ahead. She did the same.

Nearby, a frog croaked and a turtle swam by them. No fish.

"Why would you ask me that?" Kurogane finally asked. "That sounds like the mage's area."

"I know," she said. "But… I didn't think that Fai-san would tell me."

"Why's that?"

"I'm not sure. I guess I just get the feeling he wouldn't say if he was in love. I know it sounds weird, but he doesn't really talk about his feelings much."

It seemed the princess was much more perceptive than he gave her credit. Putting that annoying mage aside, Kurogane felt it necessary to go ahead and answer her for the sake of the kid's blood supply, who he just knew would be the next person she would talk to and wouldn't be able to speak properly for days afterward. Him and the princess both. "Alright, you win." He could tell she was suppressing the urge to hug him. And he silently thanked her for not putting him in that even more embarrassing position. "What part about it are you confused about exactly?"

"I don't know." Oh, she was such a big help. "I suppose I want to know how you know when it's really real. And not just… you know."

"Lust?" She "eeped" at that one. "Right." Kurogane began to absent mindedly scratch the back of his head. It was one of those things that he wanted to phrase very carefully. He didn't want to have to go into a deep and long conversation about it. Sadly, it seemed she already knew that he knew the feelings of love all too well. "This is about the kid?"

"Uh, y-yes." Kurogane was starting to wonder if he blushed half as much in his lifetime as the kid and princess did in one week.

"Right." Why is this so damn hard?! Kurogane thought.

A few birds were chirping back and forth to each other as the fisherman and his little helper sat in an awkward silence.

"It's, uh, perfectly natural to feel that way. You're at that age where your… hormones are basically at war throughout your body." The princess blushed and Kurogane quickly realized with horror that he was unintentionally turning this into the dreaded Talk. "But that's not what you mean, right?" She furiously shook her head. "Good. Okay." Another pause. "Do you love that brother of yours and that priest you're always talking about?"

"Yes."

"But your love for the kid is different?"

"Mm hm."

"Shouldn't that be enough of an explanation already?" Really, he came out to fish, not to have emotional discussions with a little girl!

"I'm sorry, I'm annoying you, aren't I?" He could tell she was looking down sadly at her fishing pole and he couldn't help but growl at himself.

"No, you're a hell of a lot better company than some other idiots. It's just not everyday somebody asks a ninja to explain to them the concepts of love. Understand?" He glanced back at her and she gave him a small smile. Taking a deep breath and steadying himself on the bank, Kurogane came to a conclusion. "I think it might be easier if you tell me how you feel when you're with the kid."

He looked back down at her and saw her clutching her heart. "It's strange. Syaoran makes me feel so many different things, it can be so confusing sometimes. I can be happy with him one moment but sad the next. It hurts my heart so much when he won't tell me that he's in pain, even when I can see it. I think it's because it feels like he's hiding things from me. I don't like it."

Without a word, Kurogane dropped his hand on her head in understanding. "You're making it sound as though you think this stuff is just a bunch of pain. It's a pain in that ass, though, I'll tell you that." He felt her head shake as she chuckled. He would never understand how she found him funny. "Yeah, there's pain and that person makes you feel so many damn things you thought didn't even exist or were just gone and it drives you crazy. But sometimes that's a good thing. It just means that you care more deeply for that person than you do anyone else. They make you want to do things you never thought of before, things that are completely insane. Nothing seems to make sense, but you don't care and that makes even less sense than the feelings themselves. It's as if nothing else matters except that one person and you'd do anything just for them to be happy. You'll fight, but you'll regret it and in a matter of no time you'll be back to where you were, one of you acting like an idiot while the other tries to ignore it."

"Even though he secretly doesn't mind and finds it cute?"

Kurogane pushed her cap down over her eyes while she tried not to laugh again as punishment for that statement. "What have I told you about listening to that idiot when he's telling you things about me?"

"Don't?"

"Why?"

"Because they're not true?"

"Right. You got any more questions?"

Sakura thought for a moment before answering, "No. I'm glad I asked you, Kurogane-san! You understand." It was a shocker, but he couldn't deny that they had some similarities when it came to their love life, no matter how disturbing that thought was. "We should stick together!" she continued. "I can help you with Fai-san and you can help me with Syaoran!"

"No."

"O-Okay." It was best to just douse that little idea before she dwelled on it even more. He still couldn't understand why she appeared to like his company, and he also couldn't understand how she managed to actually get him to talk that much on that topic. Must have been that "pull" or whatever the mage called that thing about her that made him comfortable speaking such things. But he had to admit, it felt good to say some of his feelings out loud. Almost as if a weight was taken off of his chest. However, just to be safe.

"It's a rule and tradition that you never talk about what was said during fishing to anybody. Got it?"

"Got it!"

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**A/N:** I always loved that one picture of Kurogane and Sakura fishing. It's just so cute! Anywho, I decided to put this up since I keep coming up with fluffy one shots and instead of having a thousand of those, I thought it best to have something to put them all in. So, viola!

**I vow to never put an angst fic in this section. Only fluff and heart warming love between couples and family!**

**NOTE!** To the people who actually read "Snowflakes of Joy" (ew, hate that title!) in the five or so hours it was up, I'll be putting the much better version of it up here. It's fairly different, but it's still the concept of Fai and Yuui's dad playing with them (I know they haven't said anything about their parents, but I like to think that they were happy with their children before they died).

You know what to do!

Please leave a review!

As always, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcomed with a hot water bottle for your heart.


	2. Baking

**Date Written:** July 4, 2007

**Summary:** While father and daughter are fishing, what are mother and son supposed to do? Bake!

**Flo:** Happy 4th of July! Georgia is in the middle of a drought, we got water restrictions, and fire works are banned. But did that stop the men in my family? Hell no!

**WARNINGS!** None. Shocking! But watch out in later chapters!

**Hope you enjoy!**

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"Um, Fai-san?" Syaoran started as he and Fai sat in the living room, reading. Kurogane and Sakura had gone fishing and Mokona was no where to be seen, so it was just the two of them.

"Yes, Syaoran-kun?" Fai said, not taking his eyes off his book, So You Want to Speak Japanese?.

"Well, I was just thinking that it would be a good idea for me to know how to cook. You know, since it's just something that everybody should know but I don't have that much experience."

That got Fai's attention. He quickly shut his book and hopped over to join Syaoran on the sofa. "That's a great idea! Hm, where should we start?"

Syaoran ducked his head slightly before saying, "Maybe a cake?"

Fai clapped his hands as he praised Syaoran. "Syaoran-kun's so smart! That's just perfect to begin with! A cake was actually the first thing I taught Sakura-chan how… to…" Fai trailed off and just stared into space for a while, leaving Syaoran a bit confused. Slowly, a smile crept across Fai's face as something became clear to him.

"F-Fai-san?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm sorry Syaoran-kun! I guess I just zoned out there for a second! Now come on, let's get you an apron! I already have one special, just for you!"

"Just for you!" meant it had a little puppy sewn on the front complete with goggles. Fai's had a cat with a fluffy coat and he showed Syaoran that he had also had special aprons made for Sakura and Kurogane. Sakura's had a little kitty playing with a feather, while Kurogane's had a dog that said, "Kiss the Cook" on it. Syaoran suggested that perhaps it was best for Kurogane to avoid cooking due to his large build and their usually small kitchens. That got more smartness praising.

After all the necessary pre-cooking rituals were completed (aprons, hand washing, oven preheating, cake pan greasing, getting the ingredients, secret cooks-only hand shake), it was time to start the cake. Chocolate was deemed best because everybody liked it, despite what their ninja said. Pink icing was also chosen because Syaoran said it was Sakura's favorite color. Fai said that that was also a good idea because pink frosting tastes the best. Syaoran had never thought about it before, but the man was right. (1)

"Alright," Fai began, "what do the directions say, Syaoran-kun?"

"Uh, 'in a large bowl, sift or whisk together flour salt, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and cocoa.' Does it matter which we do?"

"Probably not, but I've always found sifting them easier. It also combines your ingredients much better. Your sifter is in the cabinet, so get to it!"

And get to it he did. While Syaoran fiddled with the measurements, Fai leaned back against the counter, occasionally giving advise such as using a knife to level off the flour. Other than the little things, Fai saw no huge reason to watch Syaoran like a hawk. The boy was very capable of doing things by himself, and this was just a simple cake. What could he possibly do to mess it up?

Fai got his answer when a cloud of floury substance puffed out and covered half of him and the front of Syaoran. After a slight moment of confusion, Fai looked over at Syaoran, an eyebrow raised in question as to how he managed that.

"I'm sorry, Fai-san!" Syaoran quickly sputtered. "I-I don't know what happened! I just began to turn the crank handle thing and everything just flew out!"

Fai paused again to contemplate this. After a while, he asked, "Were you turning the crack rather fast?"

"Yes?"

"Ah. With dry ingredients, particularly flour, you want to take it slow to avoid any of it flying out like it just did. Okay?"

"Okay! Sorry again."

"It's no problem! A very simple mistake! Just start over."

So he did. This time, Syaoran made sure to take it slow. Very slow. Eventually, Fai told him he could go a little faster, to which Syaoran did and ended up spilling a small amount out again. After brushing the piles of powder off the counter and into the bowl and convincing a horrified Syaoran that the counters were perfectly clean and that he'd done it a thousand times before and nobody had yet to get sick or die from it, the two cooks went to the next step in the directions.

"'Add one cup and two tablespoons of water and one cup and two tablespoons of oil,'" Syaoran read out. "'Mix for one minute.'"

Fai nodded for him to do so and went back to lounging against the counter top. He had to admit, this was very nice. He didn't really spend that much time with Syaoran and had always felt like the boy needed to find a more relaxing hobby. Sword training was nice, but he was such a nervous thing when he wasn't fighting or finding feathers. Baking was something that he could use as a relaxant for his mind, instead of overexerting his body and basically having Kurogane beating the poor boy up.

Fai glanced over to Syaoran, not really expected much. However, his mind stopped for a second in confusion when he saw what the boy was using. "Syaoran-kun, what is that?" he asked.

"… Water?  
"Good. Now what is that you're measuring it with?"

"A tablespoon?"

"Try again."

Syaoran looked at the initials engraved on the spoon and quickly turned red. "A, uh… teaspoon." (2)

"That's right. Here." Fai took the tablespoon off the ring with the other measuring spoons and gave it to him, along with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, it's not that big of a deal. If you had poured it in, it would be easy to fix. Again, it's a common mistake!"

"Thank you." Fai noticed that Syaoran was quickly loosing his confidence. He was concentrating very hard on pouring the rest of the ingredients. "'Add eggs, ¾ cup of water, vanilla,'" Syaoran read to Fai when he finished. "'Mix three to four minutes with an electric mixer.'"

"Have you ever cracked an egg before?" Fai asked. Syaoran shook his head. "It's very easy! All you do is take an egg, like so, and gently hit against the side of something. Once you get a good enough crack, you take the end of both sides and basically pull them apart. See?"

Syaoran nodded, took an egg of his own, and began to lightly tap it against the side of the bowl. Fai was going to suggest the side of something else, but by the way he was hitting it, he doubted that he would manage to get shells into the mix.

_Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap_…

"You can hit it harder than that, Syaoran-"

"…kun."

In went exactly half the egg. Half the yolk, half the white part, and half the shell. The other half went onto the counter and began to drip onto the floor. While Syaoran cleaned up the egg and frantically apologized for making a mess, Fai fished out the egg shells in the batter, again telling Syaoran his hands were clean and he'd done it a thousand times and nobody had yet to get sick or die from it. He then had to somehow manage to get another half of an egg into the batter as he had Syaoran practice cracking the other four eggs in a different bowl. It took about fifteen minutes, but the boy did it without a single bit of shell going with the egg's insides to which Fai was thankful for and didn't hesitate to praise him for. It got a bit of his confidence back which was good. Fai didn't want to deal with a nervous Syaoran when this was supposed to be a relaxant. Even though Fai wasn't all that relaxed himself at the time.

"Alright, now we mix it all together with the mixer," Fai said, with a sigh of relief. "You see that little lever thing on the side there?" Syaoran nodded. "Just push that to the first notch and it will mix everything up for you. Okay?"

"Okay!"

Syaoran began to go to turn it on and had just put his finger on it, when out of nowhere Mokona popped out and shouted right in Syaoran's ear, "Hi, Syaoran-kun!" causing the poor boy to trip and push the lever to maximum speed. The machine gave out a loud whining sound as the batter flew all across the kitchen and onto the two people standing in front of it. Meanwhile, Mokona had taken refuge in Syaoran's clothes. Shielding his face as best he could, Fai felt around the machine looking for the lever while Syaoran ducked down to avoid any more of the batter. After being coated in a mix of wetness, dryness, and actual batter, Fai found the lever and pulled it back successfully turning it off.

"Mokona," Fai said from his slouched position over the mixer. "Where have you been all day?"

"Mokona was playing hide and seek!" the meat bun said, poking it's head out.

"… Why?" You have to give Fai credit when it came to keeping his temper. The man had just dealt with a surprisingly incompetent boy when it came to cooking and was now covered in batter thanks to a little white ball of fluff. Yet, he wasn't yelling like a certain ninja would be long ago. Bravo, Fai.

"Because I wanted to see how long it took for someone to find me! It was taking too long, though, so I decided to use one of my super secret techniques: surprise attack!"

"Well, it worked. Now how about you go and make sure Kuro-rin isn't being a naughty boy and hiding dirty magazines for me?"

"Mokona is up to the challenge!" It gave a small salute being bouncing away. Fai felt a little bad about having to get rid of it, but the thought was soon gone when he took a look at the state of the kitchen. He was really beginning to feel the stress of a mother.

With a small sigh, he said, "Come on, Syaoran-kun. We should start cleaning this mess up to get it over with."

"Okay, Fai-san." Syaoran said as he got up from his hiding spot. When Fai looked over at him, he immediately burst out laughing. Poor Syaoran was in not much better condition than himself. He could just barely make out his face as Syaoran looked as if Fai had completely lost it.

"Syaoran-kun!" Fai got out between gasps for air. "You… You look like a… a cake monster!"

Syaoran, still confused, looked at himself with the help of a spoon and began to laugh a bit as well. "Well, look at yourself, Fai-san!" Fai did so and soon found himself holding onto the counter to keep himself up, he was laughing so hard. "Imagine what the others would say if they saw us."

"Probably that we're idiots! Okay…" Fai took a few deep breaths before continuing, "Let's get ourselves cleaned up before we-ah!"

Letting go of the counter top and taking a step was a bad idea, because Fai quickly slipped on an egg and fell flat on his butt. There was a pause as the shock wore off and then he was back to cracking up. Syaoran tried to help him up, but that resulted in slipping on some batter and falling himself. After a few more tries at getting up, the two cooks decided it was best to stay put for a while. Besides, they couldn't stop laughing in order to get proper balance.

"Is all cooking this difficult?" Syaoran asked, wiping tears from his eyes.

"No," Fai said, still lightly chuckling. "If it was, we would never actually eat our meals. Plus, I don't think my bottom could handle so much bruising." Syaoran had to snicker at that. "Though we should hurry up and get this in the oven soon. You want it to be a surprise for Sakura-chan we she gets back, right?"

Fai was able to make out a blush on his face under all of the batter. "… Yes. I think that this journey's starting to get to her and I was hoping that this might make her forget about it for a while. I know that it's not much, but there isn't much else I can do aside from get her feathers back."

Fai looked at Syaoran for a bit before taking some batter and tossing it at him, hitting the boy square in the face. "Don't be like that!" Fai commanded the bewildered Syaoran. "I'm pretty sure why I know Sakura-chan is looking so sad lately."

"You do?! Why?!"

"Because Syaoran-kun is." Fai had to chuckle at the face Syaoran gave him after he wiped away the cake batter. "Really, you two are so funny! You both are so worried about the other and when you see one is just slightly not one hundred percent, it worries the other and then you have yourselves constantly worrying about each other when there is nothing to actually worry about!" Fai took some batter off of his own head and proceeded to drip it onto Syaoran's to make sure he had his full attention and because it looked funny. "It's absolutely wonderful that you both are so conscious of what the other is feeling, but you sacrifice what you're feeling yourself in the process. Do you understand?"

Syaoran looked down for a second as what Fai said sunk in. When he faced him again, Syaoran quickly took some of the batter Fai had put on his head and flung right back at him and into his face, catching Fai completely off guard. Smiling, Syaoran said, "Thank you, Fai-san. I think I'll talk to Sakura when she gets home."

Fai wiped off the batter revealing a huge grin. "I'm glad I could be of service! If you need anything else, feel free to come to me. I doubt Kuro-wan would be able to actually talk about his feelings with anybody!"

"I don't know. I'm sure he would if you opened up to him more."

Fai's grin vanished completely at that, but he made sure to give Syaoran a small smile, anyway. "Maybe." This was followed by a handful of batter shoved down Syaoran's back, making him yelp at the coldness and all around strange feeling that it gave him. "While we wait for our special people to come home, what say you and I leave this mess exactly the way it is?"

"What?! But won't Kurogane-san-?"

"Exactly! Syaoran-kun is so smart!"

"Um, o-okay. And the cake? We don't have nearly enough batter now for one… and can we please not scrape off the stuff from the floor and put it in the pans?"

"If you say so. But the great thing about cakes is that you can also make cupcakes using the same exact recipe for regular cake! We have enough batter in the bowl for about five good sized cupcakes. We'll just have to cut the frosting recipe in half. Think we'll be able to manage getting up now?"

After a few more slips, they were able to get up and pour the remaining batter into the cupcake holders without any mishap. Later, as they were beginning the frosting, this time Fai playing a more active role in the process, they heard the front door open and Sakura's quick footsteps come running in followed by Kurogane's heavy ones.

"We're home!" she called.

"We're in the kitchen, Sakura-chan!" Fai called out. "Did the two of you catch anything?"

"I came close, but-" Sakura stopped when she came into the kitchen, her eyes going a bit big. Kurogane soon appeared and got the same look on his face as he surveyed the mess. He took one look at Fai's smiling face before grabbing Sakura's head and steering her down the hall without a single word.

Fai and Syaoran turned to exchanged looks before doubling over with laughter once again.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**1.)** It's true! Pink frosting tastes the absolute best!

**2.)** This is similar to what happened when I was teaching my younger brother (14) how to bake brownies. The only difference was that he was about to put in a tablespoon of vanilla instead of a teaspoon. Ew.

**A/N:** This was hard! Father daughter bonding is so much easier to write. I guess since I'm a daughter. But I like how this turned out. It could be better, but it's a good start since I hope to have other chapters with Fai and Syaoran bonding.

**Next chapter!** I hope to have a whole family fic, with SakuSyao and KuroFai-ness. Especially since we're going to need it with 159 this week and all… GEEZ!!!! My hands were shaking with excitement and shock after reading those spoilers! Ooooh, I promised myself I would read the actual scans (I know where to get them, hell, I'm a member of the Tsubasa msn community! (VivaldiBizet)) when the entire Celes arc is over, but it's getting haaaard! But I know I can do it! -_determined Sakura mode_- Need 160 spoilers… it is precious to us… Okay, sorry for that rant.


	3. Doggie

**Date Written:** August 9, 2007

**Summary:** Little Fay gets a new friend! But what is he supposed to do with it? And how is it suppose to protect him, exactly?

**A/N:** I've decided to give into the "official" spelling of our mage's name, that being "Fay." Which is quite funny because the dictionary meaning for it is "fairy." XD

**WARNINGS!** Slight Celes spoilers. Nothing horrible, though, like tattoo meaning.

**ALSO!** I did, in fact, post this chapter this past Friday (the above date), but ten minutes later realized that it was total, unadulterated, crap and deleted it. I wish I hadn't had posted it, because it looks like I just put this back up "updated" to get more reviews. How annoying. Thank you for the reviews, though!

**TAKES PLACE** a while after Fay is taken in by Ashura. Like, I don't know, a month or so. Basically, just enough time for him to know his way around but not quite comfortable enough to talk with many people.

**Hope you enjoy!**

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_What is it?_

_A friend. He'll make sure you're safe when I'm not around. Does that sound nice?_

_… Yes. Thank you, Ashura-ou._

UuUuUuUuUuUuUuU

Fay stared at the large, fluffy mass on his bed. It stared back. He leaned over and pushed it's leathery nose. It fell over. He wasn't quite sure what to do next. He knew he was supposed to do something with it, but this was the first toy he had ever been given that he remembered. He had never expected Ashura to give him anything remotely child like. Being coddled wasn't what he thought he was there for. Yet, there in front of him, sprawled out on his bed, was a large, black, stuffed dog.

Ashura had said it was suppose to protect him. But it was immobile. He didn't even sense any magic inside of it. How was it suppose to protect him from being scared of the shadows at night? Fay stiffened at that thought. It was evening and he'd have to go to bed in an hour or two. He quickly shook the idea away and looked back down at the toppled dog, deciding that if Ashura said it was going to keep him safe, it was worth a shot.

Fay scooted over to it and sat it back up, staring at it again. It's marble eyes were supposed to be brown, but there was a strange glint in each one that gave the appearance of red. It was very large, too. Almost as big as himself, though that wasn't really saying much. The amount of black fur just made it's size seem even bigger, as well. On top of that, it didn't smile. Fay had seen the guard dogs many times and they smiled. This one didn't. It almost looked like it was scowling. Fay found that odd because what did it have to scowl at?

On the bright side, something that mean looking must be able to scare something away.

He kept staring at it, desperately trying to understand what he was supposed to do with it in the meantime. It was quite a conundrum. It just sat there. Doing nothing. He wondered if there was something wrong with it. Like maybe it didn't like him. That had to be wrong, though, because Ashura had told him that it was a friend.

"Hi," he finally whispered to it.

No response. Not that he was expecting one.

"Um, what's your name?"

Still nothing.

"… You don't have a name?"

This time, Fay took it's head and shook it from side to side.

"That's no good. You should have a name."

The dog shook it's head up and down at that.

"Right. Well, since you don't have one, I'll give you a name! How does that sound?"

The dog shook it's head again, this time with much more enthusiasm.

"Okay, then. What's a good name for you?" Fay put a finger to his chin and looked up at the ceiling for inspiration. It was a lot harder than he thought. He looked back down at the dog and quickly decided that the typical names didn't suit it at all. It definitely wasn't a Boris, or an Ivan, or a Yerik. That was about all of the names he could come up with that he had heard the guards call their dogs. It was a very short list since the guards didn't really speak to begin with.

Suddenly, Fay felt his stomach twist in hunger. "What's that?" he said to the dog, putting his ear to it's muzzle. "You're hungry? Well, I guess that now is an okay time to go and get a snack. Dinner's already been served, after all."

Hopping off of the bed, Fay snatched the dog's tail up and proceeded to drag him down the hallways. It was when they were turning a corner that they came to a sudden halt. Well, more like Fay got jerked back from the dog's sudden halt.

"What's the matter?" Fay asked it. He went around the corner and saw it's paw clinging to the wall. As he undid it from the nail, Fay continued, "You're a silly doggie. Don't you want a snack?" Picking it back up, it's head lulled to the side making Fay giggle. "Is Doggie-chan shy?"

No response. A scowl, though.

"Doggie-chan… You don't like that name?"

Still nothing but a scowl.

"How about Doggie-pipi?"

Scowl.

"Doggie-chu?"

Scowl.

"Doggie-wan wan?"

Fay briefly wondered if he would eventually hear a growl from the thing.

"Hm. Well, I guess I'll just have to keep coming up with new ones until we find one you like. Come on, Doggie-tan."

Fay hugged the dog tightly in his arms this time as they continued to the kitchens. While going through the hallways, Fay made sure to explain where each door went (the few that he remembered), what the guards were for, and even tried to introduce him to one of the other dogs, only to have to have the guard restrain it due to the dog thinking it was a chew toy. Fay took note to make sure to bandage that paw after they got their snack.

Once at the kitchen's door, Fay slowly opened it just enough to peek inside. After finding nobody was around, he tiptoed as quietly as possible in, making sure his dog was secured in his arms.

"Why, hello there," a voice said from his side, making Fay jump with a small squeak. Whirling around, he saw a man behind one of the counters he couldn't see from the door making his way towards him. He squeezed the dog with all his might, holding in front of him.

"I-I'm sorry!" he stuttered. "Doggie-tan, here, was hungry and, um, I-"

"It's okay, it's okay! Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong." The man smiled and kneeled down so he was eye level with Fay, who took a few steps back in return. "My name is Ueda Hiroyasu. I'm the baker of this kitchen. What's your name?" (1)

Fay hugged his dog tighter, probably cutting off circulation, before whispering, "Fay."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Fay! Are you here for something to eat?"

Fay shook his head and held out his doggie. "He is."

Hiroyasu peered at it for a while, a small laugh beginning to bubble up. "Oh, I see. And what would he want to eat?"

Fay put the dog's muzzle back to his ear and nodded a few times. "He wants cake… um, but it's okay if that's not allowed."

"Why wouldn't it be allowed? Everybody should have cake, right?" Fay nodded. "Right! So how about I get you a piece of cake along with your friend?" Fay nodded again, hiding his face slightly behind the dog in embarrassment.

As Hiroyasu happily finished frosting a cake he had already been working on, Fay sat on a stool, swinging his legs and absentmindedly humming. Doggie-rin, meanwhile, was dancing. Not very well, but you couldn't do much when you were so big in comparison to the little boy doing all the work. Not to mention, little puffs of stuffing coming out of a paw. Fay tried to put it back it, but managed to just make the paw look swollen instead.

"All done!" Hiroyasu cheered, placing the two slices of cake on the counter in front of the two. Fay stared at them, amazed at how pretty and delicious they looked. He gazed back up at Hiroyasu, wondering if it was okay to eat them. Luckily, the man immediately understood. "Go on, eat! I wouldn't have made them special if I didn't want you to enjoy it!"

Fay gave him a small smile and a whispered, "Thank you," before taking a fork full of the sweet. Hiroyasu began the clean up while Fay finished his cake. Doggie-puu just sat in his lap, though, not touching his piece.

"You don't like cake?" Fay asked when he was done and saw the state of his dog's cake. It proceeded to slump to the side. "You should at least try it." Taking it's head, Fay shoved it's nose into the cake, making sure that part of it was eaten (of course, he couldn't tell by how the cake seemed to flatten). Lifting it back up, the dog appeared to be glaring at him. It must have been annoyed at the force taken. As an apology, Fay hugged it, getting cake on his cheek in the process.

"Hm, I don't think your friend likes cake that much," Hiroyasu said. Taking a wash cloth, he cleaned off Fay's cheek and the counter. Fay took care of the cake on the dog's nose. "What's his name? Doggie-rin, did you call it?"

"I think so," Fay said. "I can't remember."

"So he gets a new name every time you talk to him? What a lucky dog to have an owner who cares so much about him!"

"Really?" Fay was confused as to how him not being able to remember which words he put at the end of the word "doggie" counted as good ownership qualities.

"Yup! Coming up with a name that nobody else has for someone is a very special thing. Your dog seems to have a bunch of new nicknames that you made up, so that must be even better. After all, people give other people nicknames because they are very dear to them."

Despite only having the toy for an hour or so, Fay had to admit that he enjoyed calling it different things. He supposed that that counted as caring. Even if the thing seemed to be permanently scowling at him.

"But what if he doesn't like them?" Fay asked.

Hiroyasu paused and contemplated this. "I suppose you should just keep trying?"

Fay nodded and whispered another thank you, before hopping off the stool.

"Do you need any help getting back?" Hiroyasu offered.

Fay looked up at him, then down at his dog friend. "No thank you. Doggie-tin and me will be okay."

"Alright then. Feel free to come back any time for some more cake!"

Fay nodded again and left, feeling very satisfied at having met the man. He was nice. Maybe, if he had time, he could teach him how to cook stuff. That cake was delicious. "Good thing you were hungry, Doggie-sama."

Despite that ending being better than the others, he still got a scowl.

They spent the rest of the day together, pretty much joined at the hip. Fay showed him all the different statues, tapestries (making up his own explanations as to their significance), potion ingredients, portraits, until eventually ending up at the library where they sat in one of the corners and studied.

It was rather late to start with, and the time began to catch up with him. And the dog. It had slumped over and onto Fay's shoulder, but Fay just continued to study. He himself was beginning to nod off by the time some servants came by looking for him, Ashura promptly being called in after he was found.

"Planning on staying up all night to study?" he said, approaching the snoozing boy.

Fay quickly stood up when he realized who it was and gave a small bow, picking up the dog with him without even thinking. "I was showing Doggie-puu around and all the things I'm learning when he went to sleep, Ashura-ou. I didn't want to wake him up so I thought that I would just keep reading."

Ashura patted Fay's head and smiled down at the boy. "By the looks of it, you two have become very good friends. Is that right?" Fay nodded, unsuccessfully hiding the still torn paw into his shirt. "That's good, then. Come along. We should get you to bed."

Fay obediently followed, Doggie-san following Fay until Ashura had him taken away for a while to stitch the paw up. And before he knew it, he was clean (he had tried to clean Doggie-kun once he got him back, but the servants told him that that wouldn't be a good idea) and tucked into bed, Ashura reading him a story as he grew more sleepy.

He was still awake once Ashura finished and wished him good night, though. No matter how sleepy he was, he always seemed to have trouble actually going to sleep. He kept seeing shadows at night that reminded him of the bodies at the tower. Each one had a face to it that he still remembered, and the more he thought about them, the more real they became to him. Exactly what his new friend was supposed to protect him from.

"Doggie-bun?" he whispered to the corner where he had place him.

No response.

"Are you scared of the dark?"

Still nothing.

"It's okay. Lot's of people are. I-If you want, you can sleep with me tonight. Would you like that?"

Nothing was said, but Fay took it as him being shy and quickly pulled him under the covers. With one last look at the shadows, Fay buried his face into the mass of black fur, shutting his eyes tight and holding Doggie-chan as close as possible. It didn't take too long until Fay began to feel his fear slowly leaving him and sleep creeping towards him.

UuUuUuUuUuUuUuU

Fay suddenly awoke to find himself on the couch with his head in Kurogane's lap, the man himself looking like he was close to falling asleep. Sitting up, he turned the television off, snapping Kurogane out of his dozing state.

"It's about time you woke up," he yawned, casting a glare at the mage.

Fay gave him a small smile and wrapped his arms around his neck, burying his face as best he could in the man's hair.

He could still tell he was being glared at as Kurogane said, "What's with you all of a sudden?"

Fay hummed and answered, "Nothing... I think you should grow your hair, though."

What Kurogane said next was something that sent a combination of shock and relief through Fay's entire body. "Idiot. You don't have to hide in my hair. I'll make sure to protect you so you don't have to hide at all."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**1.)** Just in case some people don't know, Ueda Hiroyasu is one of the characters in Chobits. He's one of the main supporting characters, and is a baker. I always thought he'd be good with kids, and this just kind of fit. Not to mention Fay needs SOMEBODY to put some meat on his bones.

**2.)** (side note) Hm. I hate to say that that last part might be considered angst... Crap.

**3.)** (side note) I KNOW WHERE TO READ THE CHAPTERS! I greatly appreciate the offers, but I already know (three sites, actually) and am even a member of the Tsubasa community on msn. Viv-san, right here. So don't worry. I am very up to date on spoilers and am freely CHOOSING to not read the scanlations until the Celes arc is over in order to get a greater impact of the entire thing. Thank you for the offers, though.

**A/N:** This was hard, but it is definitely better than the other one I had. I'm much more okay with this one. Hope you are, too!

You know what to do!

Please leave a review!

As always, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcomed with stuff dogs!

**Next chapter:** I know for a fact it will be Sakura/Syaoran fluff. I've been wanting to write it, and by golly next chapter it shall be done! Yeah!


	4. Little Marionette

**Date Written:** August 12, 2007

**Summary:** Sakura wants to surprise Syaoran. Why? Just because.

**A/N:** I originally thought of this when watching the Bravo presentation of Cirque du Soleil's Corteo while on the treadmill. Which is odd, because I'm not thinking of Tsubasa when on the treadmill. I'm thinking, "How the hell much longer do I got to go?" Anyway, I realized that Fay would totally fit in with these people, then Sakura got into the picture, and lo and behold! Fluff is born. And Flo is quite proud of it.

**WARNINGS!** None, but as previously mentioned, warnings could come in later chapters.

**ALSO!** This isn't really Cirque du Soleil, but it's definitely the same artsy, awesome concept. Reason I say this is because I don't know how they work behind the scenes. All I know is that I want to see a live show so freakin' bad! -_growls at sad bank account_-

**Hope you enjoy!**

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"We're leaving!" Syaoran exclaimed as Kurogane and he were walking out the door, Mokona forcing it's way into the group.

"Already?" Sakura said coming in from the kitchen. "It's so early!"

"I know, but we need to find your feather, princess, so we should start as soon as possible. Don't worry, we'll be back for dinner."

"At least let me come with you! That way, when we find it, I can go ahead and take it so somebody doesn't come and steal it while you're coming home!"

"I'm sorry, but we can't chance your safety. We haven't been here long enough to know if this is a dangerous world or not. Please understand."

Sakura looked to Syaoran then to Kurogane in hopes he had a weakness for princesses. By the sudden widening of his eyes and the abrupt break of eye contact, she concluded that he did. Only, he had learned how to avoid it. Curse him. She then looked to Mokona who was peeking out of Kurogane's jacket. It appeared it was about to say something in her favor, but Kurogane covered it's mouth before it could say anything. That resulted in Mokona licking Kurogane's hand and he, in turn, chasing it around the living room. Apparently, things weren't in her favor.

With a sigh, Sakura said, "Okay. Be safe."

"Don't worry," Syaoran said with a sweet smile. With that, the three were out the door as soon as Kurogane calmed down.

Sakura was about to go back to the kitchen to finish up the dishes, when she heard another round of yelling from outside. It was too early for Mokona to get Kurogane riled up after only a few seconds, so it must have been Fay returning from his ridiculously early morning shopping for cinnabun ingredients. He said he wanted to beat the crowds.

After a few moments of laughter and shouting, Fay flew in through the door, his cheeks tinged pink from his utter joy at teasing everybody's favorite ninja. "Hello, Sakura-chan!" he said when he spotted her five feet in front of him. "I got the ingredients! Let's get to it!"

"Uh-huh," Sakura said.

Fay immediately halted in his journey to the kitchen and turned back to the girl. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, um, it's silly, don't worry about me, Fay-san!" She tried to perk up by doing the happy dance Mokona taught her, but it was to no avail.

"Syaoran-kun won't let you play with him and Kuro-puppy and Mokona, will he?"

Sakura dropped her arms to her side and gave in. "You could say that. But I know it's just to protect me, so it's no problem! Let's go make those cinnabuns! Yay!"

"Sakura-chan, you're very cute. But you need to work on your acting skills. I'd be glad to help, but not today. Instead, you and I are going to go get your feather!"

"Huh?"

UuUuUuUuUuUuUuU

"Hm… Uh-huh… Eh?"

Those were the sounds the lady walking repeatedly around Sakura was making. Fay had introduced her as Miss Ring Leader, making it known that she wasn't a bad person, though Sakura still wasn't sure. It felt like she was being critiqued for something. And the lady herself didn't look terribly friendly. She looked about Kurogane's age (she would say Fay's, but Sakura had suspicions that Fay was over one hundred), maybe younger, and everything about her was pointed and straight. From her hair (which had a surprisingly cute butterfly bobby pin to keep her hair out of her face, and had Sakura trying to sum up the courage to ask where she got it) to her shoes, she was straight and pointy. She reminded Sakura of a doll she had when she was younger. Only, she never thought her doll would bite her head off.

Finally, the lady threw her hands up in the air and exclaimed, "I can't do anything with her!"

Ouch, Sakura thought.

"Aw, come on, Miss Ring Leader!" Fay whined. "I told you she was cute, and you said that not all of the performers needed to be super flexible!"

"Yes, but I would prefer it if they were. And she is cute. I should just have her stand in the middle of the stage and look pretty."

"Sakura-chan can do that! Sakura-chan, smile and look pretty!"

And she did, despite her thinking that Miss Ring Leader was being sarcastic. Only, it's rather hard to do that on cue, so her smile was more of a confused, lop sided, Fay-esque grin. But she looked pretty!

Miss Ring Leader stared at Sakura for a while before turning back to Fay, appearing about ready to pounce on him. "That's wonderful. Sadly, I can't. For you, however, the offer still stands."

Sakura was getting increasingly confused with every sentence. She tried to give Fay a pleading look, but he was too busy with, what seemed to be, negotiating with Miss Ring Leader. "Sorry," he was saying, "but my days of running away to join the circus are long gone!"

Sakura perked up at this. "Circus?" she said.

"Not so much a circus as it is a performance of great art. Right, Miss Ring Leader?"

"If you want to put it that way, then yeah," she said.

"I've been on a tight rope before!" Sakura offered, now very interested in where this was going.

"Have you?" That got the lady's attention back to her. "Are you good?"

"Well, not great, but I can manage with some practice!"

"I see. Will four days do?"

"Yes!"

"Alright. I suppose it won't be a big deal to rewrite a few things to make you your own act. Maybe like a marionette."

"That's great!" Fay cheered. "Thank you so much, Miss Ring Leader! Oh, um, mind if you and I collaborate a bit on this little idea?"

"Why not? In the meantime, I'll send someone over here to start working with the girl to see if she really can walk the tight rope and to what extent."

And then she was gone in a sea of acrobats, clowns, jump ropers, contortionists, singers, musicians, and many other people in extremely tight outfits. Sakura looked up at Fay, who was beaming at all of the people, and tugged on his sleeve.

"Hm?" Fay said. "What is it, Sakura-chan?"

"Um, what exactly are we here for?" she asked.

"Oh! Right. Well, it all started this morning when I was getting cinnamon for our cinnabuns. I was coming back from the store when I passed by here, see, and curiosity got the better of me and I peeked inside. Then Miss Ring Leader caught me and was about to hang me from the gallows-" Sakura gasped right here "-when she decided that she might be able to use me for the upcoming performance. She said something about my face and body being perfect, but I refused." Sakura glanced around again and had to admit that Fay would fit in quite nicely with these people.

"But what does this have to do with my feather?"

"All in good time. When I was about to leave, I noticed that there was a glass orb hanging from the ceiling. After a closer look, I saw that it had your feather in it so I immediately asked Miss Ring Leader if she would give it to me because it belonged to someone who greatly needed it. She tried to get me to perform in exchange, but again I said no and instead, offered you."

Sakura squeaked at that. "Me?! B-But I bet that Fay-san would be a much better performer than me! Kurogane-san is always saying how good an actor you are!"

"Is that so?" For some reason, Fay didn't look terribly pleased with that. "Never mind, Sakura-chan. The reason why I think you should do it is because I know how much you want to get them back without troubling us. This way you can! And you can also impress Syaoran-kun the night you perform."

As Sakura blushed from that statement and the suggestion behind Fay's wink, she imagined what it would feel like to be walking on the tight rope high above the audience with Syaoran watching her and only her. The idea made her stomach do a somersault.

"But I did kind of spring this one on you. Sorry about that! It's perfectly fine if you don't-"

"I do!"

UuUuUuUuUuUuUuU

Fay was definitely more suited for such a lifestyle than me, Sakura concluded as she waited back stage. Her nerves were started to get the better of her and she knew it. She just had to remember and practice what Kurogane told her to do. Suck it up and do whatever you're going to do. It's best to get things over with. It was a shame she hadn't had ninja training in her life. At least, from what she remembered. Maybe she should ask Kurogane teach her some skills.

Sakura quickly shook her head to get rid of all of the random thoughts and focus. After all of that practice, I can't back out now! she thought.

The company had been wonderful to Sakura the four days she had to train and practice, and Fay had even been around quite often to help out. And the one day he wasn't, he had sent Kurogane over after informing him of their plans and convincing him that is was for a greater good to keep it secret from Syaoran. Both had been a huge help to have around to make her feel comfortable. Kurogane had also showed her a trick to keep from screaming "bloody hell," as Miss Ring Leader had put it. Bite your tongue.

She had gotten many blisters from the wire, along with bruises, but luckily they weren't visible in her normal clothing so Syaoran wouldn't see them and begin to think she had hemophilia or something. Speaking of which, it had taken a lot of convincing for Syaoran to let Sakura go to the "bathroom" without even Mokona. Of course, that was at the beginning of the show and she had to leave them fairly early to get changed and warm up. She was really cutting it close with the warm up, but her act didn't need a large amount of flips or anything so it was slightly alright. Sakura wondered what Syaoran was thinking with her gone so long (it was nearly the end of the show) and if Kurogane, Fay, and Mokona had to duct tape him to his seat.

I hope he doesn't think I'm in any sort of danger, she thought. Her face flushed red as she imagined what he was imaging about her being in trouble in the bathroom and how embarrassing it would be if it were the truth.

"Hey, don't freak out on me now, Little Marionette," Miss Ring Leader said, suddenly appearing right in front of her. "Your act is next so go on to your station."

"A-Ah," Sakura squeaked out, earning an eyebrow raise from the lady.

Before she knew it, Sakura was being pushed up a ladder from backstage by a bunch of clowns. She was amazed that she was actually able to get up there with such ease. It was when one of the stage hands was putting her in her harness and attaching wires to her arms, legs, and hips that she glanced down and couldn't see anything. At all. It was just a large black void of nothing.

It honestly wasn't that she couldn't see the floor that scared her. It was that she couldn't see Syaoran anywhere. She was told that the audience was too preoccupied with the current act to look up and see her getting ready and that it didn't even matter whether she could see them or not at that time, but she desperately wanted to see Syaoran's face. She was doing this for him, after all, and she wanted to make sure that he was watching her from the very beginning. It would also make things easier for her if she saw him then.

There wasn't any time to really look, though. Slowly, the music began to fade into her song, a music box melody accompanied by the orchestra. Suddenly, she was alone on her platform, an umbrella her only company. She quickly smiled before the spotlight lightened her, Mokona's final advice echoing in her head.

_Just take a big breath and jump!_

Right, Sakura thought.

Once the light was at its brightest, Sakura took a deep breath and leaped out above the audience, her wires pulling her farther to reach the center of the tight rope. She landed perfectly and quickly let her body double over to give the appearance of limpness while at the same time, keeping stiff to stay balanced. She let her eyes wander just slightly over the crowd since it was slightly lit up around her thanks to a wandering spotlight. She still couldn't make out Syaoran, though.

As the music picked up and got louder, Sakura lifted her arms, making sure her hands were still limp, and let her upper body follow. She lifted up a leg and began to tip toe across the rope, every now and then dropping a part of her body. At one point she even had to fall completely over and lie on the rope letting her arms and legs dangle freely for a time before being raised back up, one limb at a time, and placed standing back up.

The entire time through her performance, she only looked away from the audience when moving her feet on the rope. There was a spot light running through the people, waiting for her to give the signal once it landed on the right person. As the song continued and she continued with the long version of her routine, Sakura grew more and more anxious when it wasn't hitting the correct person.

What if he left to look for me before I came on? Sakura thought, nearly letting her smile slip. No, Fay-san and Kurogane-san said that they'd keep him there no matter what… but when Syaoran-kun puts his mind to something, he'll do it. Wait! Don't think about that, focus!

That was easier said than done, though. The music was coming at it's end, and if she didn't see him soon, then the song and act would be over without her surprise.

However, something caught her eye for a second. The spotlight person was told to move over the people more than once, so Sakura kept her gaze on that spot until it came back and hovered for a while over her special person: Syaoran.

Quickly, Sakura swept her arms together as the signal to stop the light where it was, and discreetly pulled something out of the sleeve of her glove. She then swung her leg back and let the wire pull it strongly forward, her entire body following and soon found herself looking at the ceiling while she fell backwards.

The entire audience gasped at the amazing scene, but Sakura was deaf to the room as she fell downward and her eyes locked with Syaoran's. At first, she could see that he was panicked. He quickly jumped out of his seat at the sight as if wanting to catch her, though seemingly lost his shock when he saw her brightly smiling at him.

Sakura felt the wires tightening the closer she got to Syaoran, until they slowed down, leaving her only an arms reach away from him. As she reached towards him, Syaoran's face lit up in joy and he mimicked her movements. Their fingers intertwined, the feather retrieved from the circus secured between them. Sakura's heart was beating a mile a minute and she could feel Syaoran shaking from surprise, but neither looked away or stopped smiling, even when it started hurt their cheeks. For that brief moment, it was only the two of them in the entire world, connected. It couldn't have been more perfect.

Sakura was sad that when had to end so soon. The wires tugged lightly on her and so she squeezed Syaoran's hand before letting it go, both of them reaching still until the tips of their fingers left one another's. The feather drifted slightly away as it was nearly forgotten. Once that last bit of contact ceased, Sakura went completely limp as the she was lifted away, the music coming back to end the scene and the roar of applause echoing throughout the large room.

UuUuUuUuUuUuUuU

"Sakura-chan, that was amazing!" Mokona was cheering. They came to greet her backstage after the show, Mokona and Fay nearly tackling Sakura once they saw her while Kurogane merely gave her a nod, indicating his approval.

"Really?" Sakura said, still a bit breathless from all of the excitement. "Because I came close to slipping a few times so I was afraid that it looked horrible."

"Nonsense!" Fay said. "You were wonderful and everybody loved you! I heard the people all around us saying how cute and how great of a tight rope artist you are! Right, Kuro-tan?"

"You were good," Kurogane said. He then looked over his shoulder before jerking his head over at Fay. Fay made a little sound before releasing the girl and running behind him, coming back with a blushing Syaoran with his hands behind his back in tow. He suddenly stumbled forward, making the distance between Sakura and himself become very small. Sakura guessed Fay pushed him. She wasn't complaining, even though she was blushing now, too.

"We're going to get something to eat!" Fay announced, tucking Mokona under his arm and looping his other arm with Kurogane's before vanishing.

The two stood in silence for a while, occasionally glancing at one another, until finally Syaoran spoke up.

"I-I thought that you were remarkable up there, Princess," he sputtered.

"Thank you!" Sakura said, eyes lighting up. "Um, it was a surprise for you, Syaoran-kun. I hope that I didn't worry you when I was gone for so long."

"Well, I tried to go find you, but Kurogane-san slapped me across the head and told me to stay in my seat or else Fay-san would take care of me. I didn't know what he meant by that, but I thought that if they were okay with it, then I didn't have anything to worry about."

"That's good! I was thinking for a while up there that you had left to go look for me."

"I was barely able to stay in my seat, actually! I'm glad I did, though. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen! And, um… t-this is for you."

From behind his back, Syaoran took out a rose with a pink ribbon tied around the tissue paper. Sakura gasped and gazed up at Syaoran as he locked eyes with her and smiled.

Maybe, Sakura thought as they both held the rose and got lost in each other's eyes, the circus life is exactly for me.

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**1.)** (side note) I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that orchestras for these types of things are able to do repeats or cuts if necessary. Like if a performer is doing a key trick but they mess up the first time, the orchestra could repeat that certain part if the conductor commands. It's not terribly difficult.

**A/N:** I'm so proud of me! My first total Sakura/Syaoran fic! I hope that it was to people's liking. Admittedly, I was shocked that people liked the first one so much. I mean, of course the IDEA is freakin' adorable, but execution I wasn't sure of. Same with this. Was it executed well? Feedback is WANTED because I want to write more Saku/Syao chapters. They're so cute!

You know what to do!

Please leave a review!

As always, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcomed with little kitties!

**Next chapter:** Who knows? I sure don't! But it will come to me. Especially since spoilers are this Saturday! Woot!


	5. Weird Friend

**Date Written:** September 2, 2007

**Summary:** Little Kurogane makes a weird new friend.

**Flo:** I like this idea! And I hope to do something similar with Sakura and Syaoran next chapter! Though, I do keep meaning to make that entire family chapter… eh, I'll get to it.

**WARNING!** Lil' bit of shonen-ai. And I do mean "lil'."

**ALSO!** This could be considered AU or not. It's up to interpretation and I personally don't care either way. It's cute, so that's all that matters.

**FINALLY!** Kurogane is called Kurogane in this. Not Hage-whatever. I go by the manga, not anime. And as for Fay's language, the only real reason I chose Russian is because the only language I've taken (that I remember because I did take German) was French and I don't really think France has the artic like winters and snowy mountains depicted in Celes (no matter what Funimation says).

**Hope you enjoy!**

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The sun was beating down hard on Kurogane's neck that day. He figured he'd probably have some pretty bad sunburn after this. He wouldn't have minded as much had the fish actually been biting. It was getting closer to evening, and he'd been out there ever since the morning in order to catch some dinner for his mother. Of course, in order to do so, the stupid fish would had to have actually been there. He guessed yelling at the things didn't really help in the long run.

Kurogane looked up at the sky to see that the sun was beginning to make it's way west. Not a good sign. With a defeated sigh, he stood up and gathered his pole, then kicked at the water for not providing proper nourishment for the world. Particularly his mother. Fish was good for your health, after all. At least that was what everybody told him. Either way, it was tasty.

As he made his way back home, Kurogane desperately tried to think of what to say. A simple apology would be fine since it was an understandable situation, except it wouldn't make him feel better for not getting any dinner. Catching squirrels was easy, but he doubted his mother would be too happy with him carrying in a handful of dead rodents. He didn't even think he'd enjoy it. And he hadn't brought other materials to catch another edible animal with, so deer was out of the question. It seemed that they'd have to settle with tofu that night.

"Stupid fish!" Kurogane shouted as he kicked a small rock. Unintentionally, the rock went flying into a tree, ricocheting a bit into the forest, and finally landing on something that made an, "Ow!" sound. Kurogane paused for a while, surprised at this, before hurrying over to where the rock went. It wouldn't do him any good to not only not have dinner, but also cause someone a possibly traumatic injury.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked as he looked behind a tree where he thought he saw the rock go. His eyes widened a bit in shock when he saw who was hurt. At first, he thought it was a girl with the slightly long hair, but he quickly realized that it was in fact a boy. A strangely pretty boy with yellow hair, blue eyes, and white skin. Something Kurogane had never seen before. It was really weird.

The boy looked up at him, and Kurogane's stomach dropped when he saw a small trickle of blood run down his forehead. He was going to be in so much trouble with the way things were going.

Nobody has to know, though, right? he told himself. I can just patch him up here and everything will be fine!

With that happy idea, he looked more closely at the cut. His shoulders slouched at the realization that the thing needed to be cleaned up and he didn't have any soap with him, much less bandages. The right thing to do would be to take him back to his house and fix him up there. Secretly, of course.

"Sorry about that," Kurogane said with a sigh. The kid kept staring at him with his ridiculously big, blue eyes. It kind of annoyed Kurogane. Why wasn't this kid saying anything? "Hey, did you hear me? I said I was sorry!"

Then, to Kurogane's utter horror, the kid started to cry. It wasn't anything big, just a few tears with a lot of sniffling, but still, he made the kid cry! That was bad. Before he could say sorry (again), though, the kid was already leaving. That was bad. Who knew what would happen if he went into town like that? All he would have to say is that some boy with black, spiky hair and red eyes threw a rock at him, then started to yell, and everybody would automatically know who it was! Kurogane's butt would be sore for weeks. He had to stop him.

"Come back here!" he shouted. The kid looked over his shoulder and yelped when he saw Kurogane coming at him. He then ran to hide behind another tree, Kurogane running right behind it with him. With another yelp, the kid started to run around it, Kurogane still hot on his heels. This went on for about a minute before Kurogane thought of something. Once one of the branches was in sight again, he jumped up and quickly sat on top of it. As soon as the kid passed under it, Kurogane snatched the back of his shirt, pulling him down as he jumped off of the branch. Sadly, this resulted in more crying, seeing as how it had scared the living daylights out of him, bruised his butt, and he was now probably thinking that he was being kidnapped for more target practice.

It was not Kurogane's day.

"Stop crying!" Kurogane commanded, while trying to keep a good hold on him.

The boy calmed down a small bit to only look up at Kurogane and say, "к-какой?"

Kurogane stopped and stared at him. That wasn't Japanese. In fact, he didn't know what it was. Well, since the kid looked different, it was only logical that he spoke differently, he supposed. Still, this made things even more difficult. If they couldn't communicate, then how was he supposed to calm this kid down? Who knew what was going through his mind.

Well, first off, Kurogane knew that he probably shouldn't yell at him anymore. So he took a few deep breaths and counted to ten. Then, he loosened his grip on the kid's wrist and smiled. The kid hiccupped and peeked up at Kurogane from under his bangs. Kurogane made sure to smile even bigger in hopes of showing him that he didn't want to hurt him.

When the kid stopped squirming, he took this as a good sign and decided to try to get on the same level with him. "What's your name?" he said, immediately mentally slapping himself after he got a confused stare. Taking a different approach, he pointed at himself and said, "Kurogane." Still confused. "Ku-ro-ga-ne." He followed this by pointing at the kid and putting on, what he hoped, was a "question" face.

Something must have clicked, because the kid actually made eye contact and pointed at himself. "Fay," he whispered, then pointed at Kurogane. "Ku…ro…?"

"Ku-ro-ga-ne."

"… Kuro… goh… nee?"

"No! Kurogane!"

The kid, now presumed "Fay", shrunk back at the outburst and probably would have tried to run off again had Kurogane not still had his wrist. Composing himself once more, Kurogane just assumed that the last two syllables of his name weren't common in Fay's language. Besides, there were more important things to do. Like stopping that blood. The trickle now resembled a stream that parted at the nose. Admittedly, Kurogane was a little impressed with himself for having kicked that little rock so hard. He would never tell anyone that, though, for fear of getting yelled at.

Kurogane looked all around for a big leaf or something to at least wipe the blood away. When he glanced around Fay for something, he saw that he was mimicking him for some reason. It was kind of funny. However, he eventually gave up. He was in a pine forest, anyway, so he wasn't sure what he was trying to find. Instead, he took the cleanest part of his shirt and ripped it off as best he could. Only afterwards did he think of the consequences from his mother that might follow.

Fay, meanwhile, was still looking around on the ground as Kurogane was doing, so he took advantage of his distraction and started to dab at the cut.

"Ow!" Fay yelled as he slapped Kurogane's hand away.

"Don't do that!" Kurogane yelled back. He was rather offended that his good deed wasn't receiving any gratitude. Even if it was his fault in the first place. "I'm trying to help you!"

Fay merely covered up the spot and whimpered. He looked absolutely pathetic. And it made Kurogane want to help him even more for some strange reason.

He leaned in closer to Fay, who leaned slightly back farther and farther the closer Kurogane got, until falling onto his back with a weird squeak. Kurogane took this opportunity to put the cloth on the cut again while Fay's hands weren't covering it.

"OW!" Fay shouted, even louder.

Kurogane was getting very frustrated with things. He kept wondering what was wrong with this kid and that he thought it was fairly obvious he was trying to help. Something suddenly occurred to him, though. A closer look at the cut showed that there was a lot of bruising surrounding it, even with the cloth covering the cut itself.

With a, "Crap!" Kurogane immediately took the cloth away and helped Fay up, desperately apologizing. Fay didn't seem too convinced, even if he had understood him. He kept eyeing Kurogane like a kitten would some big dog. He looked completely terrified.

This was a very awkward situation. Kurogane wanted to help, he really did. Fay, however, probably thought he was a big bully. And with the language barrier, there wasn't anything he could do to assure Fay that Kurogane was sorry and that he wasn't going to do anything. At least, not on purpose.

As Kurogane glumly stared at the ground, something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Turning to get a better look, he saw that it was a flower. It was yellow, so it matched Fay's hair near perfectly. A weed, yes, but it was still technically a flower. And flowers were signs of peace, right?

Scrambling up, Kurogane rushed over to pick it and, holding it behind his back, ran back over to Fay, who looked like his brain might melt from confusion. Kurogane covered Fay's eyes to make it even more of a surprise, and held it up close to his nose before moving his hand away.

The look on Fay's face was priceless. His eyes widened as he stared at it, nearly cross eyed, until he gave Kurogane a questioning look. Kurogane grinned and motioned as best he could for Fay to take it. He hesitated, as if thinking it was some sort of trap, but soon took the flower and for the first time since Kurogane met him, smiled. It made Kurogane only smile bigger, happy that he finally seemed to understand.

"Большоеспасибо!" Fay said.

With the smile now directed right at him and only him, all Kurogane could do was scratch his nose as he looked to the side, trying to act like it wasn't that big of a deal. Which is it wasn't. What was a big deal was that Fay was still bleeding. Deciding to try again, Kurogane took the cloth and slowly moved towards Fay's nose this time. Fay flinched a bit, but relaxed when all Kurogane did was wipe the blood away as gently as possible. The cut itself took a while since Kurogane was so scared of freaking Fay out or hurting him again that he was barely touching the spot.

Finally, he deemed the cut cleaned as well as possible and began to get up. Fay stared up at him, appearing to wonder where he was going, until Kurogane held his hand out to him. Fay gladly took it and held onto it tightly with the flower still in his other hand.

Kurogane kind of wondered why he didn't let go once he was standing, but shrugged it off as him just needing something to help with his balance. As to why he himself was still holding Fay's hand, he decided that it was for Fay's sake.

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"Mom!" Kurogane shouted when he got home, Fay still with a death grip on his hand. His other hand that held the flower had wound itself around Kurogane's arm with near equal force. Kurogane accounted that to balance, too.

When there wasn't a response, Kurogane sighed and tugged Fay over to where they kept the medicine box. True, he could have gotten one of the servants to bandage Fay up, but his mother always did it best. So logically speaking, if she couldn't do it, then Kurogane was the next best thing since he was her son and all.

Easier said than done.

Originally, Kurogane thought that all you had to do was use that weird looking green paste from that plant that he couldn't remember the name of and then wrap a cloth around it with a kiss to make it better. What he didn't know was that there was a lot of different green pastes from plants that he couldn't remember the name of. Plus, he wasn't sure if the kiss part was really necessary.

As for whether or not he was allowed to go through the medicine box, well, that was a completely different story. He began to wonder if he would get in trouble, even though it was for a good cause.

"What are you doing?" someone suddenly said from behind him, making Kurogane jump.

"M-Mom!" he stuttered, trying to hide the box. "What are you doing here?"

His mother chuckled before saying, "Well, for one thing I live here and for another I heard you call me a little while ago."

"Oh… yeah."

"Who's your friend?" She crouched down a bit and tried to look around Kurogane at Fay, who was hiding behind the boy. "Did you bring home a forest spirit?"

"No, he's just weird. And he can't speak Japanese and I don't know where he came from."

"Is that so? Well, he might belong to the visiting party from up north. There were a few yellow haired people from what your father said. When he gets home we'll figure out what to do, but in the meantime, he can stay with us. What's his name?"

"Fay."

Fay looked at Kurogane, seeming to think that he was addressing him, which his mother must have found to be cute since she laughed again. "He appears to be very attached to you! Can you tell him that I need to fix his cut?"

"I can try but I don't think he'll get it."

Turning around, Kurogane sat Fay down and pointed at his cut. He then pointed at the medicine box, to his mother who was taking things out of it, and back to the cut. He wasn't positive if Fay got it or not. He figured, however, that Fay would be fine even if he didn't understand what Kurogane was trying to tell him. Everybody loved his mother. She was also a lot gentler than he was and really pretty, so she wouldn't scare him.

"This is going to sting," she said as she dabbed a cloth with the paste. "How about you hold his hand to make him feel a bit better?"

"Okay."

Fay must have understood that this was going to hurt once Kurogane took his hand, because his eyes went wide and he nearly cut off the circulation to Kurogane's hand. Had his mother not been there, Kurogane probably would have yanked his hand away and yelled at him, despite the fact that he would immediately feel bad for it afterwards.

Fay eyes shut closed once the cloth touched his forehead and he flinched from the sting, but didn't swat it away. It made Kurogane feel very proud of him for being brave. He himself had always despised that paste stuff. The only option his mother ever gave him to not get it was not climb too high in trees, or not try to walk on the slippery rocks at the river, or not touch cats when they hiss at you.

"Almost done," his mother said as she put the bandage on Fay's head, making him go cross eyed again to try to see it. She then leaned over and kissed the wound, making Fay jump and stare at her in confusion. It wasn't scared confusion, Kurogane noted. More like surprise and curiosity.

That made Kurogane confused. Why was he so surprised that his mother kissed his wound? From what he understood, a lot of mothers did that. Didn't Fay's?

"All better?" she asked with a smile. Fay kept staring at her and merely touched the spot as if there was something on it that he couldn't find.

"Yeah," Kurogane said for him. "Thanks, Mom! Can Fay and me go out to play?"

"If he feels like it. Don't push him to do anything he doesn't want to, okay?" His mother gave him that look, then, that usually meant she was serious with what she was saying.

"What do you mean by that?! It's not like I'm going to force him to eat a bug!"

"You know what I mean. He looks delicate, so no throwing rocks around… or kicking them."

Kurogane started at this and tried to act like he didn't know what she was talking about. He quickly gave up on that since she was his mom and mothers know everything, and tugged Fay to the direction of the yard. "Don't worry, I won't," he said as they left.

"Have fun!"

Kurogane smiled at her before shutting the door, then turned to Fay, studying him. Fay appeared to have decided to study him as well. Kurogane scratched the back of his head as he thought about how to figure out what Fay wanted to play when they couldn't understand each other aside from their names. Well, most of their names. He supposed that it would be easy to get a ball or something and if he tossed it to him, Fay would hopefully have the sense to catch it. Or at least roll it back and forth. But that sounded really boring. He would have much rather wrestled, except that warning his mother had given him had been said too short a time ago for him to claim he forgot. He growled as he angrily thought how ridiculously complicated this was.

Suddenly, he heard another growl.

He paused and looked around to see what did that. Finding no animal, he shrugged and sighed.

He then heard another sigh.

Deciding that no animal could sigh (at least to his knowledge), Kurogane turned face to face with Fay and noticed that his was trying to duplicate the annoyed scowl Kurogane was making. The only problem was that it looked like Fay was going to burst with laughter any second.

"Are you copying me?" Kurogane asked, his fists going to his hips to show his annoyance.

Fay put his fists on his own hips and said, "Ai yuh opy eeg meh?"

"What?"

"Vut?"

"Stop that!"

"Shtop vat!"

"I'm serious!"

"Aim sheer vus!"

"You don't even understand what I'm saying so why the heck are you trying to copy me?!"

"… Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah!"

"That does it!"

Kurogane lunged at Fay with the intention of tackling him to the ground to make him stop, but Fay somehow managed to dodge it and ran off, laughing hysterically. Had Kurogane not been so mad, he probably would have been happy to see Fay having fun instead of looking like a scared kitten. Instead, he ran after the boy, planning on making him pay for mocking him. Cut or no cut.

This chase went on for what seemed like forever and Kurogane didn't come anywhere close to even touching Fay. He had honestly stopped being angry with him and started having fun a long while ago, especially since this was a challenging game. Who knew that the kid had so much energy? Kurogane couldn't remember the last person who could keep up with him. Though, he thought that if he showed that he was having fun instead of still being mad, Fay might loose interest.

When they were making their way by the back part of the house for the ten thousandth time, Kurogane suddenly felt himself being picked up by the back of his shirt.

"Father!" he cheered when he quickly realized who it was. He didn't even have to look at his face to know who it was. He then started squirming to try and grab at his arm while the man only laughed.

"What you doing running around like a little scamp out here?" he asked while ruffling Kurogane's hair with his other hand.

"I'm not a scamp!" Kurogane protested. "And it was Fay's idea!"

"Fay?" his father repeated. Kurogane pointed over to where Fay was peeking from behind a bush. His father grinned at this and motioned for Fay to come out, which he did, but very slowly. "Now what have I told my trouble making son about forest spirits?"

"Nothing... And he's not a forest spirit!"

"He sure looks it to me. Are you a forest spirit, Fay?" He looked down at Fay, who was shuffling his feet and shyly glancing up at the tall man before quickly looking away. Kurogane's father could only chuckle at this.

"He's not!" Kurogane was saying as he kicked his dangling legs around. "Mom says he might be with some party from the north, or something."

His father thought about this for a moment before snapping his fingers. "I thought he looked familiar! Yes, Fay, here, was the little one who was meowing at the guards while I was at the capital a few days ago! It was quite a sight to see since the guards were having such a hard time trying to shoo him away without insulting Ashura-ou."

Fay suddenly perked up at that and, looking up at Kurogane's father, repeated, "Ashura-ou?"

He nodded. "Ashura-ou! I invited him to dinner in order to show our county's hospitality. He mentioned Fay a lot on the way here."

"Really?" Kurogane said. "What'd he say?"

"A lot of stuff that rascals shouldn't be told."

"I'm not a rascal!"

"And how do I know that?"

"Because I said so!"

"Well, I don't think that it's that important anyway." Kurogane huffed at this. "Now let's go inside and get you two washed up. Fay smells fine, but you, my son, smell as if you've been up to no good. You weren't kicking rocks around, were you?"

Kurogane ceased in his attempts to get free and gave his father a sheepish smile of defeat as the man scooped Fay up under his other arm and carried them both inside.

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Dinner went by with a lot of grown up talk and Kurogane feeding Fay the majority of the meal since he gave up on showing him how to use chop sticks. Why the kid didn't know how to was beyond Kurogane. Ashura-ou, meanwhile, seemed very happy that Fay had met Kurogane. And since he knew a good bit of Japanese, he was able to translate a few things Fay was saying, like, "You shouldn't frown so much or your face will stick like that." Kurogane's parents couldn't get enough of it. Yet for some reason, Ashura-ou wasn't able to translate to Fay for Kurogane, "You're weird." He had actually wanted to say something else to him, but he didn't want to get chastised by his parents for it later.

It wasn't long before they were saying their goodbyes to each other. The grownups were being all formal, while Fay and Kurogane stared at each other. Kurogane trying to figure out what he was supposed to say to someone who couldn't understand him, and Fay, from what Kurogane got, thinking they were having a staring contest. He hadn't blinked in what seemed like ages.

"Bye," Kurogane said. He held up a hand and waved it, hoping that that was a universal message. Fay looked at it and put his own hand on his, making Kurogane freeze. He then felt something in it and when he looked at him, Fay just smiled.

"Thank you again for the wonderful meal," Ashura-ou said as his horse was brought to him. "Fay, it's time to say bye to your new friend."

Kurogane was about to ask why Ashura-ou had told him that in Japanese when, "Okay, Ashrua-ou!"

Silence.

Kurogane's eyes widened and he snapped his attention back to Fay who was grinning like crazy. "Bye bye, Kuro-chan! I had lots of fun today, even if you did hurt me with a rock, and I hope me and you can play again some day!"

Before Kurogane got a chance to yell at him, Fay leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the nose, making him forget what he was doing all together. He then waved spastically at him as Ashura-ou hoisted him onto their horse and they trotted down the road, soldiers covering all sides of them.

Kurogane could hear his parents trying hard not to laugh, yet failing rather miserably, as he bit his lip to keep from shouting out his immense frustrations with the entire day. He instead looked into the palm of his hand to calm him down, where he held the yellow flower Fay had given back to him.

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**1.)** I don't speak Russain. So if those two little phrases were wrong ("What?" and "Thank you!") then blame the website that I got them from. And no, I don't want an explanation about them. And sorry if I sound pissy about it. Read below, please.

**2.)** Um, yeah, I had to come back to edit this because I originally said that the sun was making it's way east instead of west. So yeah, Kurogane, it would have been a VERY bad sign if the sun was heading east! Adds to what a bitch this was.

**A/N:** This was harder than it should have been. And way longer! Geez. -_annoyed huff_- I enjoyed writing Kurogane's dad, though. Other than that, it was a bitch! I hate to say it, but I'm glad I've finished. I wouldn't be surprised if it showed at the end, which makes me even more annoyed. But yeah, I've been updating like crazy. Expect a lot of my Tsubasa fics being updated soon.

And I've been debating whether or not to get a live journal. Any opinions on this?

You know what to do!

Please leave a review!

As always, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcomed with flowers!


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